Special Scholarships ISS 2017

Universidade da Coruña has just published a call for applications for a special scholarship programme. The deadline for this call is 9th June 2017.

The programme offers 25 scholarships to increase the international diversity of students participating in its International Summer School. These scholarships will be assigned to students with outstanding potential coming from highly underrepresented low-income, lower-middle income or upper-middle income countries, divided according to GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method.

These are highly exceptional scholarships covering a course's tuition fees plus accommodation and meals in a student hall of residence for up to one month. They are reserved for outstanding students from highly underrepresented countries with a great contribution to the international diversity of the ISS. There are very few such scholarships relative to the number of high quality applicants. Academic standing is a requirement for these scholarships but, among the many applicants fulfilling this requirement, the main criterion is coming from an underrepresented country. If you come from a country that has many registered students, it is very unlikely that you will be offered such a scholarship. Travel costs and the fees of the optional Spanish language course remain the responsibility of each individual student.

Application procedure

In order to apply for a scholarship, you just need:

1.- To tick the appropriate box in the student application form if your home country is an elegible country for these scholarships,

2.- To provide a video presentation.

You must record a short video (around 1-2 minutes) stating the reasons why you would like to participate in Universidade da Coruña's International Summer School and how that fits with your background and future prospects, post it on Youtube and send us the link (e.g. https://youtu.be/lbFLiYbZ-Rc). This would be close to a personal interview and give us an idea about your motivation and communication skills in English. If your application is selected, this short video will also be used by our University in order to promote the International Summer School.

How are applications selected and what can I do to increase my chances?

The purpose of our scholarships is to increase the quality of the ISS by increasing the diversity of its students. There are three main selection criteria:

The country you come from. The less represented your country is (not only this year but also in past ISS editions), the greater your chances. There is not much you can do about this.
The courses you apply for. Your contribution to international diversity is considered not only in the ISS as a whole but also in the course you apply for. But you are not advised to make an artificial selection of courses in your application just in order to try to get a scholarship. This may even reduce the quality of your application, because an artificial selection of courses may not fit with your background or future prospects.
The quality of your video. In your presentation video, indicate how the ISS and the courses you apply for fit with your background and future prospects. The video presentation is extremely important. This is some advice for a successful video presentation:

Record your video in landscape format, not portrait.

Try to be natural. Please, don't read.

Explain why you would like to attend Universidade da Coruña's International Summer School and your selection of courses in particular, and how this fits with your background and future prospects.

Highlight your contribution to the International Summer School's diversity, for instance, by recording your video outdoors and showing us about the place you come from.

Deadline

The deadline for this call is 9th June 2017.

Each participant awared with the ISS Scholarship will receive a message of confirmation in his/her e-mail box no later that June 14th.